Itella and the Finnish Government partner up in invoice processing

Last spring, Itella Information Oy won a competitive tendering round for the Government’s invoice processing services. The new contract, valid as from 1 December 2007, facilitates more extensive cooperation between Itella Information Oy and the Finnish Government. The State Treasury’s goal is to receive all of the Government’s incoming purchase invoices as e-Invoices by the end of 2009. The same applies to the majority of sales invoices.

In order to meet this target, cooperation with Itella is essential, says Kristiina Seppälä of the State Treasury.

– On an annual basis, this involves over 2.7 million incoming invoices and 13.2 million outgoing invoices. As regards the outgoing invoices, the major annual invoice batches comprise the Finnish Vehicle Administration’s approximately 6.7 million vehicle tax letters and over 5 million television fees by the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority. Some 89 per cent of the invoices sent out by the Government are targeted at consumers. As to the Government’s incoming invoices, almost 70 per cent arrive in electronic format already, of which around 30 per cent do so as e-Invoices.

Itella digitises purchase invoices arriving at the bureau on paper, including them directly in the bureau’s purchase invoice recycling system, where the material is available for immediate use. With the help of Itella Information, various state offices can adopt completely electronic, efficient processes in information processing, which results in considerable savings for taxpayers. Electronic processes involve significant improvements in the efficiency of operations, thanks to the omission of manual work stages, fewer mistakes and faster information processing.

Invoices targeted at consumers often travel completely electronically from the office via Itella to the recipient. Nowadays, consumers are more prepared to adopt electronic transactions, for which the internet transaction service NetPosti by Itella Group provides an ideal solution, independent of content and banks. You can receive invoices, account statements, payslips and other factual messages in NetPosti, where they can also be archived. If the recipient prefers not to receive an e-Invoice, Itella will print the invoice on paper.